Weekend Review: Washouts & Winners

The monsoon season finally arrived in Seoul with a vengeance on Friday evening. The rain was so hard that Gyongmaman struggled to keep his red wine dry. It all proved too much for Seoul Race Park’s drainage system and with no let-up on Saturday morning, the decision was made to call off the day’s racing.

Uh oh: The Seoul track was designed to cope with the monsoon but it couldn’t cope on Saturday (Pic: Ilgan Sports)

The monsoon season happens every year and racing continues even during the most extreme downpours, however, this time the 15 hour deluge was overwhelming and the track was deemed unsafe to race.

The rain stopped mid-afternoon Saturday and Sunday was a glorious day at both Seoul and Busan. The pick of the action was on the South Coast and the foreign jockey contingent was in fine form. South African Gerrit Schlechter got things rolling with a win on Peter Wolsley’s promising filly Sangseungdaecheong (Ft. Stockton) in race 1.

Winners: Yukio Abe

Yukio Abe took race 2 on US import Kellan (Cape Town) before he and fellow Japanese rider Narazaki Kosuke took the honours in the two feature races. Kosuke rode hot favourite Tamna Hwangje (Montbrook) to a comfortable six-length victory in race 5 before Abe and five-year-old Saeroun Taeyang (Volponi) upset KRA Cup Mile winner Gyeongbudaero in the finale.

With Joe Fujii coming in second to Abe twice today, the foreigners continue to do well down in Gyeongnam

* Up at Seoul, the feature race went to favourite Prime Galloper (Strodes Creek), with a dominant 8 length win. It was a fourth straight victory for the four-year old who, if he continues his current form, could find himself competing for some very big prizes later in the season.